170 hostages reportedly taken in Mali hotel attack

Gunmen stormed the luxury Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital earlier today, reportedly taking up to 170 hostages.

The BBC reports that Malian special forces are fighting to take back the building and free the captives. The government of France, Mali's former colonial power, has dispatched 50 commandos to the Saharan nation.

3 are reported dead in the siege, reports USA Today.

Mali is in the grip of unrest following a 2012 military coup and Islamist insurgency in the north of the country. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it comes soon after 129 died in a series of bombings and shootings across Paris, and the subsequent killing and capture of the alleged planners.